


The Technician and the Dragon

by MiladyDragon



Series: Dragon-Verse: Pre-Series Stories [4]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragon-Verse, M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-22
Updated: 2012-02-22
Packaged: 2017-10-31 14:40:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/345233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiladyDragon/pseuds/MiladyDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Toshiko Sato knows there's something different about Ianto Jones, and one night she finds out what that is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Technician and the Dragon

 

 

 

**_18 November 2003_ **

****

Toshiko Sato moved down the alley, her scanner in one hand, gun in the other.

She’d been with Torchwood for two weeks, and this was her second retrieval. Ianto was with her; he’d let her take the lead, appraising her technique, while lighting her way with a powerful torch that had been augmented with alien technology.He’d been the one responsible for most of her training, and she’d come to appreciate Torchwood’s quiet, resourceful, and intelligent Second.In fact, she thought they were on the way to becoming friends.

Despite that, she felt like she knew very little about the enigmatic man.Yes, he’d shared a few things with her, such as where he’d been born, and that he’d been an innkeeper before Jack had met him, but beyond that Ianto really didn’t say much about himself.And sometimes Toshiko would catch him looking at her, as if he was seeing into her soul.It was at times like that she got the distinct impression that Ianto Jones wasn’t at all what he seemed.

Of her three teammates, Suzie Costello had been the easiest to work out.She was an intense, intuitive woman with whom Tosh had bonded with due to their mutual obsession with alien tech.Tosh found herself liking Suzie, even thought there was something about the woman that was slightly off-putting, and Tosh had decided early on that it wasn’t going to keep her from making friends with the other woman.It was just a part of her.

And then there was their leader.Captain Jack Harkness – and she still hadn’t figured out just what he was Captain of, despite the authentic looking RAF greatcoat – was an inveterate flirt, but could be as hard as he needed to be in order to get things done.He didn’t seem to be afraid to make the difficult decisions, and he cared for his team equally.

But she’d also managed to figure out that Ianto loved Jack.And yet, Jack didn’t appear to feel the same way toward the other man.Ianto seemed to have accepted it.

She could hear him now, his near-silent footfalls mirroring hers as they made their way along the alley.Toshiko kept her eyes on her scanner even as she gave the trash bins a wide berth; the smell was horrible, and it was all she could not to raise her sleeve to cover her mouth.Instead, she kept her mind on her job, wanting to show her superior that she was ready for field work.It was important that she prove to them that she could be a valuable part of the team.

That Jack and Ianto had been right in rescuing her from that UNIT detention center.

A scrabbling noise stopped her in her tracks.Ianto moved up next to her.“It came from just beyond that second set of bins.”He shined the light in that direction.

Toshiko nodded.She tucked her PDA into the pocket of her coat, transferring her gun to her dominant hand, holding it like Jack had shown her.Before coming to Torchwood the closest she’d come to a weapon were the ones carried by the guards at the Ministry of Defense.Now, she was expected to carry one at all times, and Jack had been quite thorough in her training…even if that training had been…well, interesting to say the least.

The noise came again.Toshiko glanced at her companion; Ianto also held a gun, although he didn’t look all that comfortable with it.It struck her then that he’d never been a part of weapons’ training, that this was the first time she’d even seen him hold a gun, much less use one.

She shook off any doubt as to her superior’s ability.Jack wouldn’t have let Ianto into the field without the proper training.Instead, she moved beside him, wondering what could be waiting for them down the alley, adrenaline surging through her veins and making her senses sing.She could get used to this, she had no doubt; the excitement of danger and new discovery and of the unknown.

They approached cautiously.Ianto slipped past her, taking point, his footfalls silent in the muck of the alley, the light from the torch shining ahead.Toshiko followed his lead, and together they moved toward the source of the sound.

As the pair neared the second set of bins, the scraping became a loud rattle as one of the metal containers was forcibly pushed away from the grimy wall.

A trio of Weevils were digging through the trash, no doubt looking for food.

Ianto stopped in his tracks, and Toshiko did the same.She was familiar with Weevils, of course; she’d seen the one that Jack kept in the cells, and her first mission outside the Hub had been a Weevil hunt with the captain himself.But she’d never faced three of them, and it had been drummed into her just how dangerous they could be.

At least she wasn’t alone.

The creatures blinked in the bright torchlight.They each growled, long and low, lipless mouths pulling away to reveal carnivore’s teeth.

One of them lurched toward Toshiko.

She let her reflexes take over, and she shot it before it could get close enough to strike.

A second shot rang out, and Toshiko realized it had been Ianto who’d fired, as another Weevil went down.Toshiko knew that single bullets wouldn’t keep them down for long, but it would give them a chance to get back to the SUV, where they had the equipment they’d need to deal with them.

The third Weevil snarled, but kept its distance.

“Retreat,” Ianto ordered, his eyes watching the last alien as he kept the light firmly on it.

Toshiko didn’t argue.She backed away slowly, not wanting to set the remaining creature off.She kept her gun up, aimed at it as it swayed and hissed, baring its teeth.

They were just moving past the first bins when both Weevils they’d shot clambered to their feet.

“Run,” Ianto snapped.

Toshiko did as she was told, turning on her heel and headed toward the mouth of the alley.Snarling and growling followed her, and another shot echoed through the confines of the alley walls.Guilt flooded her, and Toshiko turned to help her boss – her friend.

Just in time to see one of the Weevils take Ianto down, lunging for his throat. The torch flew from his hand, the light scattering along the pavement.

Toshiko raised her gun once more, taking aim at the Weevil on top of Ianto, but knew her aim wasn’t so certain that she could risk hitting him.Instead, she pumped all of her bullets into the other two, sending them both down to the pavement.

A sudden flurry of movement from where Ianto was being attacked drew her attention. Toshiko made to move toward the struggling pair…

And a golden glow grew, lighting the dingy walls of the alley.

Toshiko forced herself to look at the light.She’d never been quite this frightened; only the kidnapping of her mother had scared her more.Yet, the scientist in her had one hand off her gun and digging into her pocket for her PDA, the best to get readings of whatever was happening to her friend.It crossed her mind that it could have something to do with the Rift spike that had brought them to the alley in the first place, and if it was somehow doing something to Ianto she’d need to get all the information she could, in order to help him.

The glow seemed to swirl and dance around the sprawled form of her friend and the Weevil.A loud, pain-filled yowl cracked the night, and the creature went hurling into the far wall, to slide down to the ground where it lay, unmoving.

The light kept undulating as if it had a life of its own.It grew, spreading out into a shape that Toshiko found somewhat familiar…

And when it faded out, she knew immediately why she would recognize it.

It was a dragon.

While it was dark in the alley, Toshiko could make out glittering green scales.Blue slitted eyes looked down at her kindly as wings furled at the long, sinuous back.

A plaintive, almost child-like mewl sounded some behind it, and the dragon turned.Large flanks expanded, and a short burst of flame shot from the pointed snout.The Weevils shrieked, but Toshiko could see in the sudden brightness that the fire hadn’t actually touched any of them.

The dragon put its back to the aliens, its eyes returning to Toshiko.They looked amused.

“Um…” Toshiko honestly didn’t know what to say.Had whatever it was they’d come to find changed Ianto in some way?

“I am sorry,” the dragon rumbled, the voice unmistakably Welsh-accented, “this wasn’t the way I’d intended for you to find out.”

Her mouth dropped open.“You mean...this…” she waved a hand in the dragon’s direction, “…I don’t understand.”

“Then, perhaps I should explain…”

**********

Toshiko rested her back against the dragon’s warm flank, as they curled up together inside Ianto’s large Victorian home.The upper story had been opened up to form a large loft area: on one end was a human queen-sized bed; on the other, under a massive skylight, was an enormouspile of cushions of all sizes, as well as blankets and quilts of different designs.

She couldn’t believe it, even though she’d seen the evidence of her own eyes.

Ianto Jones was a dragon.

He’d explained everything to her, and yet she was still stunned by it all.When she’d been growing up, her Grandmother had told her stories of dragons, but she’d never thought she’d see one, let alone work with and be friends with one.It was one thing to accept aliens, but another to believe that such an ancient race had existed on Earth for tens of thousands of years.

“And Suzie doesn’t know?” she asked.

“No,” the dragon replied.“I…do not trust her.There is a darkness within her, and I’m not certain what it means.”

“But you trust me.”

“I did.Almost immediately.”

“Why?”She was intrigued.

“I always trust my heart, Tosh.It has never led me astray.”

There was a sadness in his words, and Toshiko knew immediately what the dragon wasn’t saying.“You trusted Jack.”

He was silent for a while, then a sudden sigh blew through his large frame.“Jack is…different.”

“You love him.”

“I believe in him, and therefore I follow him.”

That wasn’t an answer, and Toshiko knew that he was well aware that she knew of the subterfuge.“And you believe in me?”

Ancient blue eyes looked up at her from where his head rested on his forearm.“I do, Toshiko,” he murmured.“I do believe in you.”

Warmth spread through her at the words.“And I believe in you.”

 

 


End file.
